Apparatus and methods for providing power savings on mobile devices

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments for providing enhanced power savings in mobile computing devices are described. In one or more embodiments, a mobile computing device may include a motion sensor to detect when the device is in motion. The mobile computing device may include a radio processor that may select from among several signal search procedures based on whether the device is in motion, and whether a signal is detectable and adequate. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims a priority filing dateto pending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/642,417 filed Dec. 18, 2009entitled, “APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING POWER SAVINGS ON MOBILEDEVICES”.

BACKGROUND

A mobile computing device such as a combination handheld computer andmobile telephone or smart phone generally may provide voice and datacommunication functionality, as well as computing and processingcapabilities. In order to provide communication functionality, thedevice may need to search for and maintain wireless signal connections.Searching for wireless signals may consume battery power. Accordingly,there may be a need for an improved apparatus and methods for providingenhanced power savings while maintaining communication services.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile computing device in accordance with one ormore embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a logic flow in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a logic flow in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a logic flow in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments are directed to providing enhanced power savings onmobile devices, in particular, battery power savings. In one or moreembodiments, a mobile computing device may include a motion sensor. Themobile computing device may search for and maintain wireless connectionsdifferently depending on whether the device is in motion or stationary.

FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile computing device 100 in accordance with oneor more embodiments. The mobile computing device 100 may be implementedas a combination handheld computer and mobile telephone, sometimesreferred to as a smart phone. Examples of smart phones include, but arenot limited to, for example, Palm® products such as Palm® Treo™ andPalm® Pre™ smart phones. Although some embodiments may be described withthe mobile computing device 100 implemented as a smart phone by way ofexample, it may be appreciated that the embodiments are not limited inthis context. For example, the mobile computing device 100 may comprise,or be implemented as, any type of wireless device, mobile station, orportable computing device with a self-contained power source (e.g.,battery) such as a laptop computer, ultra-laptop computer, personaldigital assistant (PDA), cellular telephone, combination cellulartelephone/PDA, mobile unit, subscriber station, user terminal, portablecomputer, handheld computer, palmtop computer, wearable computer, mediaplayer, pager, messaging device, data communication device, and soforth.

The mobile computing device 100 may provide voice communicationsfunctionality in accordance with different types of cellularradiotelephone systems. Examples of cellular radiotelephone systems mayinclude Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Global System forMobile Communications (GSM) systems, North American Digital Cellular(NADC) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems,Extended-TDMA (E-TDMA) systems, Narrowband Advanced Mobile Phone Service(NAMPS) systems, third generation (3G) systems such as Wide-band CDMA(WCDMA), CDMA-2000, Universal Mobile Telephone System (UMTS) systems,and so forth.

In addition to voice communications functionality, the mobile computingdevice 100 may be arranged to provide data communications functionalityin accordance with different types of cellular radiotelephone systems.Examples of cellular radiotelephone systems offering data communicationsservices may include GSM with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)systems (GSM/GPRS), CDMA/1×RTT systems, Enhanced Data Rates for GlobalEvolution (EDGE) systems, Evolution Data Only or Evolution DataOptimized (EV-DO) systems, Evolution For Data and Voice (EV-DV) systems,High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) systems, High Speed UplinkPacket Access (HSUPA), and so forth.

The mobile computing device 100 may be arranged to provide voice and/ordata communications functionality in accordance with different types ofwireless network systems. Examples of wireless network systems mayinclude a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, wirelessmetropolitan area network (WMAN) system, wireless wide area network(WWAN) system, and so forth. Examples of suitable wireless networksystems offering data communication services may include the Instituteof Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.xx series ofprotocols, such as the IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n series of standard protocolsand variants (also referred to as “WiFi”), the IEEE 802.16 series ofstandard protocols and variants (also referred to as “WiMAX”), the IEEE802.20 series of standard protocols and variants, and so forth.

The mobile computing device 100 may be arranged to perform datacommunications in accordance with different types of shorter rangewireless systems, such as a wireless personal area network (PAN) system.One example of a suitable wireless PAN system offering datacommunication services may include a Bluetooth system operating inaccordance with the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) series ofprotocols, including Bluetooth Specification versions v1.0, v1.1, v1.2,v2.0, v2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate (EDR), as well as one or moreBluetooth Profiles, and so forth. Other examples may include systemsusing infrared techniques or near-field communication techniques andprotocols, such as electro-magnetic induction (EMI) techniques. Anexample of EMI techniques may include passive or active radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) protocols and devices.

As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the mobile computing device 100may comprise a dual or multi-processor architecture including a hostprocessor 102 and a radio processor 104. In various implementations, thehost processor 102 and the radio processor 104 may be arranged tocommunicate with each other using interfaces 106 such as one or moreuniversal serial bus (USB) interfaces, micro-USB interfaces, universalasynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART) interfaces, general purposeinput/output (GPIO) interfaces, control/status lines, control/datalines, audio lines, and so forth.

The host processor 102 may be responsible for executing various softwareprograms such as system programs and applications programs to providecomputing and processing operations for the mobile computing device 100.The radio processor 104 may be responsible for performing various voiceand data communications operations for the mobile computing device 100such as transmitting and receiving voice and data information over oneor more wireless communications channels. Although some embodiments maybe described as comprising a dual processor architecture for purposes ofillustration, it is worthy to note that the mobile computing device 100may comprise any suitable processor architecture and/or any suitablenumber of processors consistent with the described embodiments.

The host processor 102 may be implemented as a host central processingunit (CPU) using any suitable processor or logic device, such as a as ageneral purpose processor. Although some embodiments may be describedwith the host processor 102 implemented as a CPU or general purposeprocessor by way of example, it may be appreciated that the embodimentsare not limited in this context. For example, the host processor 102 maycomprise, or be implemented as, a chip multiprocessor (CMP), dedicatedprocessor, embedded processor, media processor, input/output (I/O)processor, co-processor, microprocessor, controller, microcontroller,application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gatearray (FPGA), programmable logic device (PLD), or other processingdevice in accordance with the described embodiments.

As shown, the host processor 102 may be coupled through a memory bus 108to a memory 110. The memory bus 108 may comprise any suitable interfaceand/or bus architecture for allowing the host processor 102 to accessthe memory 110. Although the memory 110 may be shown as being separatefrom the host processor 102 for purposes of illustration, it is worthyto note that in various embodiments some portion or the entire memory110 may be included on the same integrated circuit as the host processor102. Alternatively, some portion or the entire memory 110 may bedisposed on an integrated circuit or other medium (e.g., hard diskdrive) external to the integrated circuit of host processor 102. Invarious embodiments, the mobile computing device 100 may comprise anexpansion slot to support a multimedia and/or memory card, for example.

The memory 110 may be implemented using any machine-readable orcomputer-readable media capable of storing data such as volatile memoryor non-volatile memory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable ornon-erasable memory, writeable or re-writeable memory, and so forth.Examples of machine-readable storage media may include, withoutlimitation, random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM),Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM(SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasableprogrammable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM(EEPROM), flash memory (e.g., NOR or NAND flash memory), contentaddressable memory (CAM), polymer memory (e.g., ferroelectric polymermemory), phase-change memory, ovonic memory, ferroelectric memory,silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory, magnetic or opticalcards, or any other type of media suitable for storing information.

The mobile computing device 100 may comprise an alphanumeric keypad 112coupled to the host processor 102. The keypad 112 may comprise, forexample, a QWERTY key layout and an integrated number dial pad. Themobile computing device 100 also may comprise various keys, buttons, andswitches such as, for example, input keys, preset and programmable hotkeys, left and right action buttons, a navigation button such as amultidirectional navigation button, phone/send and power/end buttons,preset and programmable shortcut buttons, a volume rocker switch, aringer on/off switch having a vibrate mode, and so forth.

The mobile computing device 100 may comprise a display 114 coupled tothe host processor 102. The display 114 may comprise any suitable visualinterface for displaying content to a user of the mobile computingdevice 100. In one embodiment, for example, the display 114 may beimplemented by a liquid crystal display (LCD) such as a touch-sensitivecolor (e.g., 16-bit color) thin-film transistor (TFT) LCD screen. Insome embodiments, the touch-sensitive LCD may be used with a stylusand/or a handwriting recognizer program.

The mobile computing device 100 may comprise an input/output (I/O)interface 116 coupled to the host processor 102. The I/O interface 116may comprise one or more I/O devices such as a serial connection port,an infrared port, integrated Bluetooth® wireless capability, and/orintegrated 802.11x (WiFi) wireless capability, to enable wired (e.g.,USB cable) and/or wireless connection to a local computer system, suchas a local personal computer (PC). In various implementations, mobilecomputing device 100 may be arranged to transfer and/or synchronizeinformation with the local computer system.

The host processor 102 may be coupled to various audio/video (A/V)devices 118 that support A/V capability of the mobile computing device100. Examples of A/V devices 118 may include, for example, a microphone,one or more speakers, an audio port to connect an audio headset, anaudio coder/decoder (codec), an audio player, a digital camera, a videocamera, a video codec, a video player, and so forth.

The host processor 102 may be coupled to a power supply 120 arranged tosupply and manage power to the elements of the mobile computing device100. In various embodiments, the power supply 120 may be implemented bya rechargeable battery, such as a removable and rechargeable lithium ionbattery to provide direct current (DC) power, and/or an alternatingcurrent (AC) adapter to draw power from a standard AC main power supply.

As mentioned above, the radio processor 104 may perform voice and/ordata communication operations for the mobile computing device 100. Forexample, the radio processor 104 may be arranged to communicate voiceinformation and/or data information over one or more assigned frequencybands of a wireless communication channel. In various embodiments, theradio processor 104 may be implemented as a communications processorusing any suitable processor or logic device, such as a modem processoror baseband processor. Although some embodiments may be described withthe radio processor 104 implemented as a modem processor or basebandprocessor by way of example, it may be appreciated that the embodimentsare not limited in this context. For example, the radio processor 104may comprise, or be implemented as, a digital signal processor (DSP),media access control (MAC) processor, or any other type ofcommunications processor in accordance with the described embodiments.

In various embodiments, the radio processor 104 may perform analogand/or digital baseband operations for the mobile computing device 100.For example, the radio processor 104 may perform digital-to-analogconversion (DAC), analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), modulation,demodulation, encoding, decoding, encryption, decryption, and so forth.

The mobile computing device 100 may comprise a memory 122 coupled to theradio processor 104. The memory 122 may be implemented using one or moretypes of machine-readable or computer-readable media capable of storingdata such as volatile memory or non-volatile memory, removable ornon-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory, writeable orre-writeable memory, and so forth. The memory 122 may comprise, forexample, flash memory and secure digital (SD) RAM. Although the memory122 may be shown as being separate from and external to the radioprocessor 104 for purposes of illustration, it is worthy to note that invarious embodiments some portion or the entire memory 122 may beincluded on the same integrated circuit as the radio processor 104.

The mobile computing device 100 may comprise a transceiver module 124coupled to the radio processor 104. The transceiver module 124 maycomprise one or more transceivers arranged to communicate usingdifferent types of protocols, communication ranges, operating powerrequirements, RF sub-bands, information types (e.g., voice or data), usescenarios, applications, and so forth. In various embodiments, thetransceiver module 124 may comprise one or more transceivers arranged tosupport voice communication for a cellular radiotelephone system such asa GSM, UMTS, and/or CDMA system. The transceiver module 124 also maycomprise one or more transceivers arranged to perform datacommunications in accordance with one or more wireless communicationsprotocols such as WWAN protocols (e.g., GSM/GPRS protocols, CDMA/1×RTTprotocols, EDGE protocols, EV-DO protocols, EV-DV protocols, HSDPAprotocols, etc.), WLAN protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.16,IEEE 802.20, etc.), PAN protocols, Infrared protocols, Bluetoothprotocols, EMI protocols including passive or active RFID protocols, andso forth. In some embodiments, the transceiver module 124 may comprise aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) transceiver to support positiondetermination and/or location-based services.

The transceiver module 124 generally may be implemented using one ormore chips as desired for a given implementation. Although thetransceiver module 124 may be shown as being separate from and externalto the radio processor 104 for purposes of illustration, it is worthy tonote that in various embodiments some portion or the entire transceivermodule 124 may be included on the same integrated circuit as the radioprocessor 104. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

The mobile computing device 100 may comprise an antenna system 126 fortransmitting and/or receiving electrical signals. As shown, the antennasystem 126 may be coupled to the radio processor 104 through thetransceiver module 124. The antenna system 126 may comprise or beimplemented as one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas.

The mobile computing device 100 may comprise a subscriber identitymodule (SIM) 128 coupled to the radio processor 104. The SIM 128 maycomprise, for example, a removable or non-removable smart card arrangedto encrypt voice and data transmissions and to store user-specific datafor allowing a voice or data communications network to identify andauthenticate the user. The SIM 128 also may store data such as personalsettings specific to the user.

The mobile computing device 100 may comprise a motion sensor 136 incommunication with radio processor 104 over bus 138. Motion sensor 136may comprise, for example, one or more accelerometers, such as, but notlimited to, a micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) basedaccelerometer, a two-axis accelerometer, or a three-axis accelerometer.In an embodiment, motion sensor 136 may detect motion without the use ofcellular or radio signals, which may be unavailable. Motion sensor 136may detect when the mobile computing device 100 is in motion, such aswhen the device operator is walking, or riding in a vehicle. Motionsensor 136 may inform radio processor 104 when it detects motion. Radioprocessor 104 may select a first signal search and/or maintenanceprocedure when the device is in motion, and a second signal searchand/or maintenance procedure when the device is stationary. Theembodiments are not limited to these examples.

As mentioned above, the host processor 102 may be arranged to provideprocessing or computing resources to the mobile computing device 100.For example, the host processor 102 may be responsible for executingvarious software programs such as system programs and applicationprograms to provide computing and processing operations for the mobilecomputing device 100.

System programs generally may assist in the running of the mobilecomputing device 100 and may be directly responsible for controlling,integrating, and managing the individual hardware components of thecomputer system. Examples of system programs may include, withoutlimitation, an operating system (OS), device drivers, programming tools,utility programs, software libraries, application programming interfaces(APIs), and so forth. The mobile computing device 100 may utilize anysuitable OS in accordance with the described embodiments such as a PalmOS®, Palm OS® Cobalt, Palm® webOS™, Microsoft® Windows OS, MicrosoftWindows® CE, Microsoft Pocket PC, Microsoft Mobile, Symbian OS™, EmbedixOS, Linux, Binary Run-time Environment for Wireless (BREW) OS, JavaOS, aWireless Application Protocol (WAP) OS, and so forth.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile computing device 100 may comprise orimplement several applications 130. The applications 130 may comprise,for example, a telephone application 131 such as a cellular telephoneapplication, a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) application, aPush-to-Talk (PTT) application, and so forth. The applications 130 mayfurther comprise a voicemail application 132, an instant messagingapplication 133, an e-mail application 134, and other applications 135.Applications 130 generally may allow a user to accomplish one or morespecific tasks. Examples of other applications 135 may include, withoutlimitation, one or more messaging applications (e.g., telephone,voicemail, facsimile, e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, video conferencing), a webbrowser application, personal information management (PIM) applications(e.g., contacts, calendar, scheduling, tasks), word processingapplications, spreadsheet applications, database applications, mediaapplications (e.g., video player, audio player, multimedia player,digital camera, video camera, media management), gaming applications,and so forth. In various implementations, the application programs mayprovide one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to communicateinformation between the mobile computing device 100 and a user. In someembodiments, application programs may comprise upper layer programsrunning on top of the OS of the host processor 102 that operate inconjunction with the functions and protocols of lower layers including,for example, a transport layer such as a Transmission Control Protocol(TCP) layer, a network layer such as an Internet Protocol (IP) layer,and a link layer such as a Point-to-Point (PPP) layer used to translateand format data for communication.

The mobile computing device 100 may comprise signal search procedures140, which may be stored, for example, in memory 110 or in memory 122.Signal search procedures 140 may comprise different algorithms forsearching for and maintaining radio and wireless signals. Differentalgorithms may apply when the device is stationary and when it is inmotion. The algorithms may alter the behavior of the radio processor 104in order to conserve battery power.

FIG. 2 illustrates a logic flow 200 in accordance with one or moreembodiments. Logic flow 200 may be representative of the operationsexecuted by one or more embodiments described herein, such as by mobilecomputing device 100, with radio processor 104. As shown in logic flow200, in block 202, mobile computing device 100 may determine whether itis in motion, using motion sensor 136.

In block 204, radio processor 104 may determine whether a wirelesssignal is detectable, and if so, whether the detected wireless signal isadequate. The adequacy of a wireless signal may be determined by variousmetrics, for example, by a signal strength or reliability measure beinghigher than some defined threshold. In an embodiment, the adequacy ofmultiple wireless signals may be determined.

In block 206, when the device is not in motion, radio processor 206 mayselect from among several signal search procedures according to whetherthe wireless signal is detectable and/or adequate.

In block 208, when the device is in motion, radio processor 206 mayselect from among several other signal search procedures according towhether the wireless signal is detectable and/or adequate.

In block 210, radio processor 104 may execute the selected signal searchprocedure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a logic flow 300 of one or more signal searchprocedures in accordance with one or more embodiments. Logic flow 300may apply when there is no detectable signal for at least one of thewireless communication functions on mobile computing device 100. Forexample, radio processor 104 may follow logic flow 300 when there is nodetectable cellular radio telephone signal.

In block 302, radio processor 104 determines whether the mobilecomputing device 100 is in motion. In an embodiment, radio processor 104may poll motion sensor 136. In other embodiments, motion sensor 136 mayset a flag when motion is detected and may change the flag when motionis no longer detected, or may transmit periodic motion statusindications to radio processor 104.

If the device is in motion, in block 304, radio processor 104 may searchfor a signal for a specified time period. In an embodiment, radioprocessor 104 may search in its current location, and also inneighboring cells. In an embodiment, radio processor 104 may use a UOOSor OOS back off algorithm.

In block 306, if no signal is found in the specified time period, radioprocessor 104 may suspend searching for the signal for another specifiedtime period (block 308).

In block 306, if a signal is found in the specified time period, radioprocessor 104 may proceed to block 404 in FIG. 4 (block 310).

If the device is not in motion at block 304, then the radio processor104 may stop searching for a signal until motion is detected (block312).

Logic flow 300 may be applied on a signal-by-signal basis. For example,if a short range wireless network, e.g. BlueTooth, signal is sufficient,but the larger wireless network system signal, e.g. a WLAN, is notdetectable, logic flow 300 may only apply to the larger wireless networksystem signal search.

FIG. 4 illustrates a logic flow 400 of one or more signal searchprocedures in accordance with one or more embodiments. Logic flow 400may apply when there is a detectable signal for at least one of thewireless communication functions on mobile computing device 100. Forexample, radio processor 104 may follow logic flow 400 when there is adetectable wireless network signal.

In block 402, radio processor 104 determines whether the mobilecomputing device 100 is in motion, as described above regarding block202 in FIG. 2.

In block 404, radio processor 104 may determine whether the signalstrength is adequate. Signal strength adequacy may be measured, forexample, by comparing the strength to some threshold.

If the signal strength is adequate, then in block 406, radio processor104 may maintain the current connection while searching neighboringsignals. If a better signal is found, then radio processor 104 may“jump” to that better signal.

If the signal strength is not adequate, then in block 408 radioprocessor 104 may search for a better signal periodically at timeintervals of t1. If a better signal is found, then radio processor 104may “jump” to that better signal. Block 408 may be repeated for as longas the device is in motion.

If, at block 402, the device is not in motion, radio processor 104 maydetermine in block 410 whether the signal strength is adequate, as inblock 404.

If the signal strength is adequate at block 410, then radio processor104 may stay with the current signal source at block 412. In thissituation, conventional mobile computing devices may search neighboringsignals for a better signal or in preparation for a handoff, whichconsumes battery power.

If, at block 410, the signal strength is not adequate, radio processor104 may search for an adequate signal, as in block 408, but using a longinterval t2>t1 between searches (block 414). Further, radio processor104 may avoid the current, poor, signal source in the search, for somelonger time interval, for example, 10 minutes.

As for logic flow 200, logic flow 400 may be applied on asignal-by-signal basis.

Numerous specific details have been set forth to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the embodiments. It will be understood, however, thatthe embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Inother instances, well-known operations, components and circuits have notbeen described in detail so as not to obscure the embodiments. It can beappreciated that the specific structural and functional details arerepresentative and do not necessarily limit the scope of theembodiments.

Various embodiments may comprise one or more elements. An element maycomprise any structure arranged to perform certain operations. Eachelement may be implemented as hardware, software, or any combinationthereof, as desired for a given set of design and/or performanceconstraints. Although an embodiment may be described with a limitednumber of elements in a certain topology by way of example, theembodiment may include more or less elements in alternate topologies asdesired for a given implementation.

It is worthy to note that any reference to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in oneembodiment” in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment.

Although some embodiments may be illustrated and described as comprisingexemplary functional components or modules performing variousoperations, it can be appreciated that such components or modules may beimplemented by one or more hardware components, software components,and/or combination thereof. The functional components and/or modules maybe implemented, for example, by logic (e.g., instructions, data, and/orcode) to be executed by a logic device (e.g., processor). Such logic maybe stored internally or externally to a logic device on one or moretypes of computer-readable storage media.

It also is to be appreciated that the described embodiments illustrateexemplary implementations, and that the functional components and/ormodules may be implemented in various other ways which are consistentwith the described embodiments. Furthermore, the operations performed bysuch components or modules may be combined and/or separated for a givenimplementation and may be performed by a greater number or fewer numberof components or modules.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, it may be appreciated that termssuch as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” or thelike, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computingsystem, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and/ortransforms data represented as physical quantities (e.g., electronic)within registers and/or memories into other data similarly representedas physical quantities within the memories, registers or other suchinformation storage, transmission or display devices.

It is worthy to note that some embodiments may be described using theexpression “coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. Theseterms are not intended as synonyms for each other. For example, someembodiments may be described using the terms “connected” and/or“coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physicalor electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, mayalso mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with eachother, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other. Withrespect to software elements, for example, the term “coupled” may referto interfaces, message interfaces, API, exchanging messages, and soforth.

Some of the figures may include a flow diagram. Although such figuresmay include a particular logic flow, it can be appreciated that thelogic flow merely provides an exemplary implementation of the generalfunctionality. Further, the logic flow does not necessarily have to beexecuted in the order presented unless otherwise indicated. In addition,the logic flow may be implemented by a hardware element, a softwareelement executed by a processor, or any combination thereof.

While certain features of the embodiments have been illustrated asdescribed above, many modifications, substitutions, changes andequivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art. It is thereforeto be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all suchmodifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of theembodiments.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method operating on a wireless computingdevice, the method comprising: detecting whether the device is inmotion; detecting whether a wireless signal has adequate strength at thesystem; and when the device is not in motion, executing a first signalsearch procedure comprising maintaining a connection to a current signalsource and not searching for a stronger wireless signal from amongneighboring signal sources when the wireless signal is adequate andsearching for a stronger wireless signal from among neighboring signalsources at an increased search interval when the wireless signal is notadequate while avoiding searching the current signal source; and whenthe device is in motion, executing a second signal search procedurecomprising maintaining a connection to a current signal source andsearching for a stronger wireless signal from among neighboring signalsources when the wireless signal is adequate and searching for astronger wireless signal from among neighboring signal sources at asearch interval when the wireless signal is not adequate.
 2. The methodof claim 1, the second signal search procedure comprising: searching fora detectable wireless signal from among neighboring signal sourcesduring a specified time period; and when no detectable signal is foundduring the specified time period, suspending the search during a secondspecified time period.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetecting whether a plurality of wireless signals have adequate strengthat the device and selecting from the first and second signal searchprocedures on a per signal basis.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein awireless signal comprises at least one of: a cellular radiotelephonesignal, a wireless network system signal, a shorter range wirelessnetwork signal, or a global positioning system signal.
 5. Anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructionsthat when executed enable a mobile computing system to: detect whetherthe system is in motion; detect whether a wireless signal has adequatestrength; and when the system is not in motion, execute a first signalsearch procedure comprising maintaining a connection to a current signalsource and not searching for a stronger wireless signal from amongneighboring signal sources when the wireless signal is adequate andsearching for a stronger wireless signal from among neighboring signalsources at an increased search interval when the wireless signal is notadequate while avoiding searching the current signal source; and whenthe system is in motion, execute a second signal search procedurecomprising maintaining a connection to a current signal source andsearching for a stronger wireless signal from among neighboring signalsources when the wireless signal is adequate and searching for astronger wireless signal from among neighboring signal sources at asearch interval when the wireless signal is not adequate.
 6. Thenon-transitory storage medium of claim 5, further comprisinginstructions that when executed enable the mobile computing system to:search for a detectable wireless signal from among neighboring signalsources during a specified time period; and when no detectable signal isfound during the specified time period, suspend the search during asecond specified time period.
 7. The non-transitory storage medium ofclaim 5, further comprising instructions that when executed enable themobile computing system to detect whether a plurality of wirelesssignals have adequate strength at the device and selecting from thefirst and second signal search procedures on a per signal basis.
 8. Thenon-transitory storage medium of claim 5, the wireless signal comprisingat least one of: a cellular radiotelephone signal, a wireless networksystem signal, a shorter range wireless network signal, or a globalpositioning system signal.
 9. An apparatus comprising: a motion sensorto detect when the apparatus is in motion; and a radio processor coupledwith the motion sensor, the radio processor to detect whether a wirelesssignal has adequate strength at the apparatus; and when the apparatus isnot in motion, the radio processor further to execute a first signalsearch procedure comprising maintaining a connection to a current signalsource and not searching for a stronger wireless signal from amongneighboring signal sources when the wireless signal is adequate andsearching for a stronger wireless signal from among neighboring signalsources at an increased search interval when the wireless signal is notadequate while avoiding searching the current signal source; and whenthe apparatus is in motion, the radio processor further to execute asecond signal search procedure comprising maintaining a connection to acurrent signal source and searching for a stronger wireless signal fromamong neighboring signal sources when the wireless signal is adequateand searching for a stronger wireless signal from among neighboringsignal sources at a search interval when the wireless signal is notadequate.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9, the second signal searchprocedure comprising: searching for a detectable wireless signal fromamong neighboring signal sources during a specified time period; andwhen no detectable signal is found during the specified time period,suspending the search during a second specified time period.
 11. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein a wireless signal comprises at least oneof: a cellular radiotelephone signal, a wireless network system signal,a shorter range wireless network signal, or a global positioning systemsignal.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the radio processor is toconnect to a plurality of wireless signals, and wherein a signal searchprocedure for a wireless signal is determined on a per signal basis. 13.The apparatus of claim 9, the motion sensor comprising an accelerometer.